Saturday, November 15, 2014

Absolutely unplanned! This is how I would describe my trip to Adarki (110 KM off Pune). Adarki is a very small village located in the Satara district of Maharashtra, on route to Kolhapur. It has one of the sharpest curves (the horseshoe curve) on the Indian railway network and is very famous amongst the rail fans, and it is also a paradise for trekkers as it is surrounded by the Western ghats (the Sahyadri mountain range). Besides, I wanted to explore the Pune-Miraj meter gauge route that had been closed down after gauge conversion in 1972. The new broad gauge line is laid upon the old MG alignment which is why there are a lot of spectacular curves and steep gradients.

To trek this place, I was told to prepare at least a week prior but I had no plans until I reached there. On one of those mind-numbing weekends (weekends are boring until I embark on an adventure trip), I packed my backpack after abruptly deciding to go on an overnight trip, booked a waitlist second-class ticket on Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen express and I was all set for an adventure.

As I was about leave my house, I received a text from the Indian railways ticketing system stating that my second-class waitlist ticket has been upgraded to an air conditioned chair car. Oh No!! This was my first reaction. I was totally disappointed and very angry at the auto upgrade system introduced by the Indian railways. Upgrading to a higher class is a bliss for everybody but I hate luxurious travel. Upon reaching the train station, I even thought of asking the ticketing staff to downgrade my ticket to its original class but I figured out that it wouldn't be possible because the train was full.

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An AC Chair Car of Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen Express

The Deccan Queen express is Indian railway's one of the most prestigious trains - first chugged out on June 1st, 1930. It is fast, has a very few stoppages and is clean and well maintained.

Led by a WCAM-3 class locomotive of Kalyan shed, the train departed on time at 5:10PM however, for some reason it was held up for about 5 minutes immediately after departing. The run trough the suburbs of Mumbai was reasonably good with temporary speed restriction enforced, the train didn't even notch up to 90 KMPH for most of the time except at some places where it did cross 100 KMPH mark briefly.

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The Deccan Queen Express at Lonavala.

The train was running with a delay of about 30 minutes as a result of couple of long unscheduled stops however, surprisingly it reached its final destination, Pune Jn., mere 7 minutes late, thanks to some high speed and all clear run between Lonavala and Pune.

From Pune, I boarded a connecting train bound for Satara - a distance of 145 KM. Upon reaching Satara around 2:30AM, I then boarded yet another connecting train bound of Adarki - a distance of 37 KM. For the first time, I traveled on a luggage compartment of a train. There was no light or fan, absolutely dark, deplorable but I loved traveling on it. I was accompanied by some scally looking guys who were apparently traveling to a nearby village of Lonand. They asked me all sorts of questions ranging from my whereabouts to my family. It didn't affright me at all but lack of sleep was making me stuporous.
I jumped off the train as soon as the train reached Adarki and went to a 'waiting hall' for a much needed sleep. The station manager was very kind as he turned off the lights and let me sleep for an hour.

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Ernakulam (Cochin) bound Purna Express at Satara in the Dead of Night

Adarki Station

Rail Line was Laid after Cutting some Rocky Hillocks. This Broad Gauge Line has been Laid on Meter Gauge Alignment.

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This Station Name Board is over 100 Years Old. The Pune-Miraj Route, which was inaugurated circa 1880, was Meter Gauge Until 1972

Led by a WDM-3A Class Loco, Pune Bound Passenger Train Enters Adarki. There are only Four Trains in a Day that Stop Here

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The 22625 Chennai-Bangalore AC Double Decker express is nothing less than a 'flying saucer' - a 12 carriage train hauled by a WAP-7 class loco.

After hustling through the streets of Chennai on a rickshaw early in the morning, we (my mom and I) arrived at Chennai Central station on time to board the Bangalore bound 22625 AC Double Decker express, luckily we didn't face any traffic woes. While entering the station building, I didn't feel anything different at all from entering the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (then Victoria Terminus) in Mumbai. Besides, traveling to Chennai always reminds me of my 2006 trip with my God Father, Jack McKinnon. The AC Double Decker express to Bangalore was not announced and hence I got a few minutes to walk around for some observation. The station was brimming with early morning arrivals from almost all parts of India. The 12624 Trivandrum-Chennai super fast mail had already been arrived, hauled by a WAP-7 class locomotive of Royapuram shed, then a little later came the legendary 12622 New Delhi-Chennai Central Tamil Nadu express, hauled by a WAP-4 class locomotive of Erode shed and many more arrivals and departures. In the meantime, the AC Double Decker express to Bangalore was announced and soon a WDM-2 class loco of TNP shed shunted the train. This was my first trip on AC Double Decker train although my mom had traveled on numerous occasions ever since its inception. From the outside, the train looked quite immense with high speed carriages made by Linke-Hofmann Busch (LHB), however I was not really happy to see the cramped seating arrangements but was not really surprised either because this train has been made for the 'masses'.

The 22625 Chennai Central-Bangalore AC Double Decker Express

After settling in, I went to check out the loco link and it was, rather surprisingly, a WAP-7 # 30276 class loco of Lallaguda shed. Usually, this train is hauled by a WAP-7 of Royapuram shed. Interestingly, even though hauled by the high speed locomotive and with high speed carriages (capable of doing 160 KMPH), the train didn't cross the speed of 100 KMPH anywhere between Chennai and Bangalore maybe due to slack time. My mom and I had been allotted seats in the lower deck, one of the seats was a window seat so I didn't hesitate to ask my mom to occupy the middle seat because railfanning and window seat/doorplating goes hand-in-hand!!

At 7:25 AM on the button, the train started and cautiously pulled out of the station while negotiating the On X-Over speed restriction of 20 KM. The acceleration of a WAP-7 class loco was quite impressive, in less than 5 minutes - the train was cruising around 60 KMPH through the suburban stations of Chennai and later maintained the speed of 100 KMPH. This was the second time I traveled on a WAP-7 hauled train, the first time I traveled was on the 12951 Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani express.

This train has got a pretty relaxed schedule, covers the distance of 358 KM in 5 Hours 45 Minutes with an average speed of 62.26 KMPH including seven commercial halts.

Here are some more photographs:

The WAP-7 did a splendid job and the train pulled into Bangalore City Junction 5 minutes before time. I'd like thank my railfan crony Nikhil Manohar for printing my flight boarding passes and handing me over at Bangalore Cantt. station at a very short notice.

On a Flight back to Mumbai:

Although, I dislike flying because it is absolutely boring, at least for me, but I wanted my mom to come out of the fear of flying, so I canceled the train tickets and immediately booked an evening flight from Bangalore to Mumbai. I was very impressed with new Bangalore International Airport, much bigger and better than the old HAL airport. The Jet Airways flight was very smooth, arrived Mumbai before time but nothing can come even close to the service provided by Air India. Air India always rocks!!

Friday, March 14, 2014

Confusing title again?!? Well..a lot of the diesel locomotives plying on Indian Railways are manufactured by the American Locomotive Company (now defunct) abbreviated Alco. My train, 15657 Sealdah-Guwahati Kanchanjunga express, was also hauled by diesel locomotive made by Alco and hence the title!!

Upon
reaching Kolkata, completing half of the journey, I was feeling very excited
because I was inching towards my destination, although I was equally enjoying
the train rides. The Guwahati bound Kanchanjunga express was scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM but
I arrived at the station 2 hours before the train's departure. This was for the first time, in my numerous trips to Kolkata, I was
traveling via Sealdah station and I kind of felt that I was in one of train
stations in Mumbai because even at 4:30 AM, it was crowded. After meandering around the station building
interacting with some locals in my not-so-good Hindi accent, I returned to station
as my train was announced and it had, in fact, already pulled into the station
(shunted). I wasn’t surprised to see huge crowd waiting to board the unreserved
and non-AC sleeper class coaches considering this train has got a large number
of stops and is pretty slow, hence frequented by local travelers than end-to-end ones. My coach,
again an AC-3 tier class, was right in the middle of the train; adjacent to the
only AC-2 tier class. There was some confusion related to coach numbers and as soon as I settled in, I was informed by one of the passengers that I was on wrong coach; this surprised me because
I had boarded correct coach# B -2. Later I learned that the railway officials have had changed the coach numbers, replacing B-1 with B-2 and vice versa, at the very
last moment. I didn’t understand the logic behind it and it certainly didn’t make any
sense to me, and for that matter to other passengers, as well.

An AC-3 Tier Coach of Sealdah-Guwahati Kanchanjunga Express

I
was skeptical about the on time departure of the train due to all of the
confusions but I felt assuaged upon seeing the starter signal’s aspect changed
to Yellow from Red and that the train did leave on time. A very few passengers boarded my coach but I knew that it would fill up at Barddhaman Junction. I was lucky that I got an opportunity to check out the train's loco link, it was hauled by a WDM-3A #14020 (An Alco diesel) class loco of Barddhaman shed. My co-passengers were from different parts of
India and one of the families was from my mom’s hometown in Kutch, Gujarat. I
didn’t even remotely think that I was going to travel with a Gujarati family on
a train bound for Guwahati from Kolkata!

Usually, I avoid the early morning starts and one
of the reasons I avoid it is because I feel very stuporous
and, as a result, cannot really enjoy the train journey but I did not have
other options this time. After negotiating the speed restrictions, the train struggled to maintain speed and it didn't even cross 60 KMPH mark albeit it was rolling over the high speed HB Chord line, hence we reached Barddhaman Jn. 20 minutes behind schedule. I saw a huge crowd was getting ready to barge onto the train but I was hoping and praying that they shouldn't board the AC coach but the God had some other plans!! Although I knew that
a lot passengers would board the train but I certainly didn’t anticipate the unauthorized ill-mannered people boarding AC class coaches. I was told that this was a regular feature and nothing much could be done about it. This, however, really beleaguered
me because they had completely blocked both the doors with their baggage and I couldn’t open it an inch, so I asked them to vacate the place and move to unreserved coaches because they were not
bona-fide passengers. Besides, I conscientiously spent a lot of time at the door
on any train journey, and this was no different albeit I was tired and feeling
sleepy, so it didn't matter to me who they were, I shooed some of them away! It was very cold outside with
temperature as low as 8 Degrees Celsius but I was enjoying the cold wind impinging
on my face as the train started to gain speed and got diverted on a non-electrified route bound for Guwahati from high speed HB Chord line. Still some people standing right
behind me unmannerly squalled at me asking me to shut the door……but I did not
listen to them! I think they swore at me in Bengali, too but I didn’t
understand and I continued to be at the door. I would have shut the door, had
they been a little genteel but they seemed roughnecks, so I totally ignored
them.

A
little over an hour into the journey, the train came to a sudden unscheduled
halt at a remote station named Bataspur. Upon inquiring, I learned that a freight train had been stuck due to loco failure on the same line and that an indefinite delay was imminent - not a big deal if you travel on any Guwahati bound train! This, however, was, for a change, a blessing in disguise
for me because a delay of about 2 hours or more would ensure that I reach
Guwahati after dawn. Eventually, the train was given a go ahead after about an
hour of unscheduled halt.

The
train arrived at Malda Town, a major halt station, 2 hours behind
schedule. The loco changed from WDM-3A class (diesel) of Barddhaman shed to another WDM-3A class (diesel) of Malda Town shed. A diesel-to-diesel
change just didn’t make any sense to me and it wouldn’t have made any difference, had the WDM-3A class loco of
Barddhaman shed continued hauling the train till Guwahati. The train pulled out after a 20-minute halt,
delayed by over 2 hours with a new loco and a fresh set of crew at its helm.

It was 4:30 PM but it became too
dark and very cold outside and I couldn't continue doorplating as the weariness was gripping me, so I decided to return to my seat and interacted
with some other fellow passengers. There were a lot Indian Navy cadets
traveling on an adjacent non-AC sleeper class coach and it was also very interesting
to interact with them, as well. Learned a lot of things from them as I always enjoy learning! For most of the time,
I sauntered around the train, interacted with many passengers and until we
reached New Jalpaiguri junction around 9 PM – 3 hours behind schedule! After New Jalpaiguri, it was only about 10
hours to reach Guwahati and an additional 3 hours to reach my destination,
Shillong – My long journey was about to be concluded!

The next day I woke up to see the train
closing in on Guwahati station, delayed by over 3 hours. Had the train been
running on time, I would have arrived at 4:30 AM and thus it would have been difficult to find a cab/bus to Shillong. Upon disembarking, I was lucky to find an
Assam State Transport bus bound for Shillong waiting right outside the station. The journey between Guwahati and Shillong was
even more captivating with the feeling of joy, and excitement to be in Shillong
once again.

The Assam State Transport Corporation Bus Bound for Shillong from Guwahati

Saturday, March 1, 2014

In
the recent past, I have been adventuresomely exploring many places in India,
traveling on trains for days together alone. I traveled thousands of kilometers on
trains in 2013 and this year, I have already clocked around 6000 KM, and I am
targeting over 20,000 KM before I drop curtains on my Indian railway journeys
forever by the end of this year. I managed to make this trip in the very first
month of this year….to my second home – Shillong in Maghalaya aka the Abode of Clouds aka the Scotland of the East aka Pine Capital of India..phew!! Many AKAs huh?!?. I, in fact, wanted to travel in December but
due to my busy timetable, I rescheduled it. As usual, I took the longest possible train
route i.e.,via Pune - Kolkata – Guwahati, instead of boarding a direct train to
Guwahati from Mumbai – I've never taken the short route! My first leg of the
journey started from Mumbai to Pune on a bus then onto the train to Kolkata (boarded
the 12129 Pune – Howrah Azad Hind express) then onto another train from Sealdah
(the 15657 Sealdah-Guwahati Kanchanjunga express) and finally on a bus to
Shillong from Guwahati train station. It took exactly 96 hours to reach
Shillong but I absolutely relished the journey!

The
Beginning of a 96-Hour Journey

Being
an impassioned Indian railway enthusiast, traveling on trains bring me a lot of joy –
especially on long journeys of over 2-3 days. On the day of travel i.e. 18
January 2014, I was absolutely commoved and felt like dashing out of the house forthwith! With a huge and quite heavy backpack, I bid goodbye to my mom with a promise to return as planned. I had planned to travel on a bus to Pune, rather than train because I wanted to enjoy the part of the journey through the expressway. The bus wasn’t scheduled to depart
until 11:45 AM but I, as usual, arrived at the bus stop too early because I have experienced
the pain of missing bus on two occasions! Without much, rather any delay,
the bus arrived and that marked the start of my long journey! It was a double axle Mercedes
coach, very comfortable and cozy, and, of course, was very cold inside. After a few stops en-route and negotiating the unwieldy Mumbai traffic, we were on the
Mumbai-Pune expressway at Panvel - delayed but only just! I was really impressed by the acceleration of
the bus on the expressway – in a few minutes, we were voyaging at 110 KMPH even
on some curves. I thought I was on
a train hauled by a WAP-4 class loco!
The arrival time at Pune was 3 PM but I knew it would not reach
until 3:30 PM. The 6-lane expressway between Mumbai and Pune is one of the best
roads to travel at high speed - very comfortable and smooth. After about 2 hours into the journey, a stopover was taken at Lonavala, some 120 KM off
Mumbai, for refreshment and pick some more passengers. It was supposed to be a
20 minute stopover but went on to become an hour – this resulted in a massive delay
and dashing all my hopes of reaching Pune before 3:30 PM. Although my train to Kolkata was going to
depart at 6:25 PM but I was eagerly looking forward to meet my very good friend
Archit Goel! After managing some superb run between Lonavala and Pune – I arrived in Pune around 3:45 PM – a delay of
45 minutes. I, however, did manage to visit the Goels!

At 117 on 12129

The
above title may be discombobulating for most but I am sure my railfan cronies,
if reading, must have figured out by now! After saying goodbye to Archit and his family,
I hustled up to reach the Pune railway station because I had only about 40
minutes to cover about 10 KM and considering the notorious Pune traffic on
weekends, 40 minutes were way too less. After routing and rerouting the
shortest way on my GPS device, I arrived at the station mere 10 minutes
before departure of my train. Thankfully, the train had arrived at platform # 1, and as a result I did not have to rush around searching for the platform number. My coach
number was B-1, an AC 3-tier class, and I knew it would be close to the loco so
I cannonballed along down in that direction without even looking at the coach position
indicators on the platform. I managed to board the train just 5 minutes before
the departure and faced tough time adjusting my baggage underneath the seat and as a result, I did not get a chance to check out the loco link,
one of the things I religiously do before the start of any train journey. I,
however, knew that it was a latest diesel loco – a WDP-4D # 40153 class loco of
Pune shed.

It was well past 6:25 PM but strangely the train did not depart and rather surprisingly,
the 11041 Mumbai-Chennai express, hauled by a WDG-3A class loco of Kazipeth
shed, was given a go head before us in the same direction. I wondered what was
going through the minds of the section controllers! After a delay of five more minutes, the
starter signal eventually turned Yellow and we slowly accelerated out and after
clearing the speed restrictions of 30 KMPH, the train accelerated to
about 80 KMPH immediately. What a resplendent performance by a WDP-4D class
loco!

After a brisk run, the train entered the first stop, Daund Jn. about 75 KM from Pune, where the train reversed and
took the Daund-Manmad route after a 20-minute halt. I was, as usual, by the
door (doorplating) as the train gained some good speed. The coach attendant, although, asked me to shut the door, I did not! After about an hour being by the door, I decided to have dinner and then slept early because I wanted to
be fully awake for the next action packed day. My mom had packed some very
delicious food so I did not order anything from the train’s pantry and I
usually avoid the food served from the pantry car. My co-passengers, apparently
from the Indian army, were heading to Shillong, as well and we have had some
good time together. After discussing various topics ranging from the politics to elections to, of course my research on leukemia; I called it a day.

I
woke up in the middle of the night…rather early morning around 1 AM while my
train had arrived at Manmad station. Upon returning to the door (thankfully the coach attendant was fast asleep), I saw the
green aspect signal on the up line and I figured out that a non-stop train is
going to rend through the station at high speed. Eureka!! In a few minutes the 12112 Amravati-Mumbai
super fast express shattered the silence of Manmad station at full speed with
full HT horn. What a sight that was! The
train was led by a WCAM-3 class loco of Kalyan shed, not sure about the road
number because at such speed, it was impossible to determine (the loco road
number). After the loco change from a WDP-4D (diesel) of Pune shed to a WAP-4
(electric) of Bhusawal shed, the starter signal turned green for my train and
soon we accelerated out and picked up good speed until it came to an impasse on
a loop line. No sooner I figured out the
reason for an unscheduled halt than I saw the main line signal aspect changed
to green, and it was time for an overtake!
A few minutes later, I saw a small light heading rapidly in my direction
on the main line and I knew it was the 12101 Mumbai-Howrah Jnaneshwari
super fast express about to overtake at full speed. Once again, with full HT
horn and hauled by a WAP-4 class loco of Santragachi shed, it ripped through
the main line at full speed. A
spine-chilling sight!!..……After all of these amusements, I went to sleep
again.

The
holler of ‘Chai-Chai’ woke me up around 7 AM while my train had just pulled
into Badnera station – running on time!
From here on, I was by the door for almost whole day enjoying the
high-speed run and the countryside scenes. The train conductor aka the TC, however, upon
seeing me by the door for so long, questioned me on whether or not I was genuine passenger, he eventually let me off
only after seeing my ticket and the ID. This situation is not uncommon for me at all! The run after Badnera was
fantastic with the train maintaining the top speed even on curves, enervating
the coach line up.

The
train pulled into Nagpur Jn. aka the Orange City slightly before time and this gave me the opportunity to check out the unreserved class coaches but they weren't too crowded. I was also pleasantly
surprised to see the 12101 Jnaneshwari express on the adjacent platform; this
meant that my train was closely following and chased it despite having more
stops! This is one of the stations were loco crew changes and after a fresh set of crew took the charge of
my train, it accelerated out after a 15-minute halt. I was eagerly waiting to
take a video of the famous diamond crossing which is immediately after Nagpur station
(Diamond crossing is the track configuration where the coalescing lines provide track connection
with each other at right angles).

The
speed the train maintained after departing Nagpur was even more staggering –
Although the Maximum Permissible Speed (MPS) was 110 KMPH however, the GPS on my
phone showed the speed of 117 KMPH for a very long time. It seemed that the new
crew at the helm of the WAP-4 class loco hauling the 12129 Pune-Howrah Azad
Hind express had probably gone demoniacal! …and
here is the explanation for the above title!

A little later in the day at Durg Jn., I met Dr. Dhaval Mavani
and another railfan friend from Bhilai. Being a railway enthusiast, I have made so many good friends from all over India and some from overseas sharing same
passion! Even though we could spend
only about 5 minutes at the station, but it was a nice first meeting, and at
Raipur Jn., I met my cousin who brought, a much needed, home food that helped
me continue my journey without ordering anything from the train's pantry till the end. We departed on time from Raipur, however, for
some strange reason, even after cruising at good speed throughout; the train
did go off schedule by almost 30 minutes……. But it did not throw me out of kilter because my connecting train (the 15657 Kanchanjunga express) to Guwahati
from Kolkata wasn’t scheduled to leave until 6:25 AM the next day.

After an early dinner, I decided to call
it a day from my train spotting activity because after doorplating for almost 8
hours; I started to feel a little outworn. Besides, my destination
was still 36 hours away. I did not even realize that I was fast asleep until, I
think, one of my co-passengers woke me up as the train was entering the Howrah
station platform # 22 at 3:50 AM running absolutely on time. Upon coming out of the station in the wee hours of the morning, I was lucky
to find a Sealdah bound city bus and in about 10 minutes, I
arrived at Sealdah railway station to board the 15657 Kanchanjunga express
bound for Guwahati - 30 hours more to reach Shillong!!

This concludes my journey from Mumbai to Kolkata. The blog on my journey from Kolkata to
Guwahati and then to Shillong coming soon!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Most of the journeys in our lives end......but some come with return tickets! Returning to Mumbai from Rameshwaram was not too unmanageable because I easily got confirmed train tickets to Bangalore via Chennai and then to Mumbai on a Jet Airways flight. After enjoying a 3 day trip in and around Rameshwaram, it was time to return home. I was, however, not really happy because I
kind of hate to return home, especially when I am on a long trip. I always become a little discompose even if I think about returning home.Anyway,
we (my mom and I) checked out of the hotel early because I wanted to spend as much time as possible at Rameshwaram train
station for railfanning. Besides, they would have charged us extra, had we
prolonged our stay even by an hour. Our
train to Chennai Egmore, the 16102 (then 16702) Rameshwaram-Chennai Egmore Boat Mail was scheduled
to depart at 5 PM but we reached the train station around 12 PM. My mom, obviously not a railfan, opted to
settle down in a retiring room and I got 5 hours to photograph trains. I took my camera out and strolled the entirelength of the platform. Albeit I spotted a very few trains, however I
still enjoyed it. I was expecting the station to be not very crowded and tranquil but it turned out to
be exactly opposite; maybe due to some festival many people foregathered Rameshwaram
on that day. My first spotting of the
day was 14260 Varanasi-Rameshwaram express which was idling in one of many pit
lines, and then a little later I spotted a passenger train bound for Madurai with a Golden Rock (GOC) shed’s WDM-2 class loco at its helm. I also spotted the Chennai bound 16702 Boat Mail in one of
the pit lines - the power of the train was a GOC WDP-3A class loco. This was the very same loco which hauled the overnight 16713 Chennai Egmore -Rameshwaram Sethu express on that day. An hour before the departure, the train was shunted on to the main line platform. Our coach B1 (an AC 3 tier sleeper class) was 4th from
the loco which meant a good walking exercise for my mom to walk almost the
entire length of the train which was about 350 meters. I was not expecting many passengers to board from
Rameshwaram but I was pleasantly surprised to see the coach filled with a
lot of passengers, especially from Gujarat. This turned
out to be a 'blessing' for my mother because she got company to talk to but I wondered if I am in Tamil Nadu or in Gujarat.

The 16701/16201 Rameshwaram-Chennai Egmore Boat mail

The GOC WDP-3A Class Loco

At 5 PM on the
button, the starter signal for my train turned Yellow and the GOC WDP-3A class loco
accelerated out with 16702 Boat mail bound for Chennai Egmore. I was very excited to travel on this route, especially over the Pamban
Bridge – a 2000-meter railway bridge over the Palk Strait connecting the island
of Rameshwaram to the Mainland India. The
train crawled out of Rameshwaram station at slow pace but gradually gained good speed until Pamban Jn. – the first commercial halt. The sinewy Pamban bridge is located immediately
North West off Pamban railway station. After a minute halt, the train accelerated out with a restricted speed of 15 KMPH. No sooner the train
left the station than I could see the brobdingnagian Indian Ocean and I became captivated to the fact that the train is going to cross over the Indian Ocean. I stood at
the door right from the time the train departed Rameshwaram and I also knew that many
passengers will pile up at the door to get a view of the ocean, hence I had already
‘reserved’ my place (right by the door). As
soon as the train rolled on to the bridge, I experienced the strong wind
current and it became very uncomfortable to hold on to my camera against the strong
current while dangling by the door and exposed to the ocean beneath with no
real support except for the door handle; I was absolutely not prepared for
this. It was a perilous 10-minute ride
over the bridge, however it was all worth it. Besides, I love to take risk! It took 10 minutes to cross over to the mainland India – a distance of
2 KM at cautious speed of 15 KMPH. After crossing the bridge, the loco
pilot stepped on the gas and the train quickly gained speed to about 50 KMPH
before coming to its another scheduled halt at Mandapam,......delayed but only just! It was very nostalgic for me to travel on this
route for the second time; the first time I traveled was back in 2006 when the
Chennai Egmore-Rameshwaram route was served by meter gauge trains.

Rameshwaram-Cennai Egmore Boat Mail Rolling over the Mighty Pamban

(You could hear some people taking right behind me)

The next stop was Ramanathapuram - 40 KM away. This is one of
the major towns connecting Rameshwaram. This town is many centuries old, historically very important and it has been mentioned in the Hindu epic of Ramayana, along with Rameshwaram. Anyway, the train reached Ramanathapuram
delayed by over 20 minutes and that got me into a little concern because any
further delay would imperil our journey back home, as we had to board a
connecting train to Bangalore, and then to Mumbai on a flight, we've had a very less buffer time. I would have, however, been a lot happier, had my journey back home been jeopardized but considering
my mom was traveling with me, I did not even think about it. The train's scheduled halt was for 2 minutes but for some strange reason, the train didn't move for a long time thus delaying it further.

The Boat Mail at Ramanathapuram

After an out of the blue 10-minute halt, the
train accelerated and I, as usual, decided to stand at the door even though it was
very dark outside and mizzling. The next stop was Manamadurai Jn - 60 KM away. I was hoping
that the train would cover up some lost minutes due to the buffer time....and it did,
the train covered some 15 minutes before we pulled into Manamadurai Jn. This was encouraging and I was quite sure
that the train wouldn't take an eonian stop at this station due to the delay….but to my horror, the
train once again stopped for ‘eternity’. Meanwhile, I called up my railfan crony - Ranjeet
Iyer – in Chennai and asked him to check-in for my flight to Mumbai online.
He immediately did it and I could not thank him enough. My
concern, however, was billowing with the amount of delay which was setting in due
to a very long halt. Albeit the train did cover the delay of 15 minutes, an additional delay of 15 minutes at Manamadurai Jn. ensured that we were again off schedule by 30 minutes. The train eventually did depart around 7:30PM and alleviated me. Not surprisingly, it started to rain real hard and I decided against doorplating as it was too
dark to see anything outside and the coach attendant ‘sternly’ asked me to
close the door for securities reasons.

At Manamadurai Jn.

It was about the dinnertime and I was very hungry, however the train did not have a pantry car and the food I
packed at Rameshwaram was over, besides I forgot to pack some food at Manamadurai
Jn. I was, therefore, left with no other option but to wait till
Tiruchchirappalli Jn. which was 3 hours away. While the train continued to run
with a 30-minute delay, I decided to take ‘Siesta
del Hidalgo’.

A much later, I
woke up to see the train stopped outside Tiruchchirappalli Jn. due to the non-availability of platform but I was pleasantly surprised to see the train
running on time. The train pulled into
the station at 2230 HRS on time. Luckily, I spotted a food vendor selling
Vegetable Biryani near the second-class unreserved coach. Without giving a second thought, I cannonball along. Upon reaching there,
I was blown straight out of the water to see the unreserved coach completely
packed with people with no place to even stand, every inch of that coach was
occupied in every possible way and not to mention the scrimmage resulting from the pandemonium. I was awed! I have traveled on the 2nd class unreserved coach many times but never seen so massive crowd before. With another 8 hours to reach Chennai, I wondered how would those people travel
in such deplorable conditions overnight!

With
just 5 minutes into the halt, the starter signal turned Yellow and the train pulled out of
Tiruchchirappalli Jn. on time and this made me completely decompressed. I quaffed
the Biryani within 5 minutes and decided to sleep as I was very wearied and hoped that the train will continue to run on time. A little later, however, all my hopes crashed
immediately when I found out that the train stopped again….in the middle of
nowhere! I figured out that the line ahead was not clear as I could see the Red aspect of the 3CL signal flaring at my train. It was only after a 25
minute unscheduled halt, the signal turned Green and we started - back to square one!

I was so tired at this point of time that I didn't care whether or not the train runs on time, I slept. After
a not so good sleep for about 4 hours, I woke up around 3:30 AM to see the train entering Villupuram
Jn. – still running over 20 minutes behind schedule. The train slowly crept into Villupuram station and it was the time for a loco change because the Villupuram-Chennai Egmore route is electrified. The diesel locomotive (GOC
WDP-3A) gave a way to an electric locomotive (AJJ WAP1). With another 167 KM to go in about 3 hours –
I was very positive of arriving Chennai on time. The acceleration of WAP-1 class loco was so magnificent
that it pulled the 19 coach long train with ease and crossed the speed of
100 KMPH within a few minutes – this was very encouraging for me! It was around 4 AM and I decided to stand at the door again – the coach attendant was fast asleep on the other side of the coach so I
was not bothered. The doorplating at high speed was so amazing but, of course,
it was also very dangerous primarily because I was not fully awake.

The
train was closing in on the suburbs of Chennai after some high speed run, although it was still running
late by 25 minutes. We reached Tambaram – a suburb of Chennai around
5:55AM. Chennai Egmore station is about 25 KM from Tambaram and I was again positive that the
train will cover this distance within 35 minutes. The train cruised through the
suburbs at good speed and at this point I became absolutely sure that we are going
to reach on time and that we wouldn't have to hustle up to catch the connecting train. Finally, around
6:35AM, the train pulled into Chennai Egmore station – a delay of mere 5 minutes, which was very acceptable, and as a result, we had almost an hour to reach
Chennai Central station to catch our connecting train, the 22625 Chennai-Bangalore Double Decker AC express, to Bangalore City.

This concludes the part -I of my travel from
Rameshwaram to Chennai. Part-II coming soon.

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About Me

A crazy Indian railway enthusiast, an ardent traveller and a biologist. I dislike travelling first class, instead second class travel on Indian railways bring me a lot of joy as this is where you will find the real India, meet some amazing people and learn a lot of lessons of life.Presently residing in Izhevsk (इज़ास्क), Russia pursuing PhD in immunology at the Udmurt State University. My email id is deepesh (dot) soni (at) rambler (dot) ru